How-To: Whole-Roast Cauliflower
Whole-roasting cauliflower may be the key to adding this crumbly superfood to your weekly agenda –
Or not, but in either case, it was for me! The health benefits gained by consuming this hueless brain-shaped vegetable were not worth the anxiety-inducing mess it left on my cutting board, counter, and floor.
So, logically, I stopped chopping it.
The picture and following recipe card are excepted from my Whole-Roasted Cauliflower Mac. While making that entire dish is optional, I find its opening techniques are not.
Besides, stopping after removing your cauliflower from your oven leaves you with an arrestingly beautiful side dish; a vegan brain for zombies, perhaps, delectable enough to save you from that particular apocalypse.
How-To: Whole-Roast Cauliflower
Description
Whole-roast cauliflower for a stunning side dish; or, perhaps, a vegan brain delectable enough to halt the zombie apocalypse at your kitchen.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C; have an 8×8-in (20×20-cm) baking dish handy.
- Fill pot large enough to fit cauliflower (like a 6- to 8-qt/L stock pot) with enough water to cover cauliflower (about 4 qt/L water). Bring to boiling over high heat.
- While waiting for water to boil, remove cauliflower leaves and core. (Save trimmings for Zero-Waste Vegetable Stock!)
- Carefully place cauliflower into boiling water, then cover and set a timer for 8 minutes. (A watched pot never boils over! Lower temperature as needed to prevent spillage, but maintain a rolling boil.)
- When 8-minute timer beeps, transfer 1 1/3 cups (300 mL/300 g) cauliflower cooking liquid to baking dish; next, transfer cauliflower.
- Smother seasoning paste over and into exposed cauliflower florets once just cool enough to touch. (Reference Cauliflower Mac if planning to make that recipe.)
- Bake 30-40 minutes until a butter knife can be inserted with little to no resistance.
Notes
- Now you’re ready to make Cauliflower Mac!
